Reefer 250 overflow box leaks

[Rostato]

So, my Red Sea Reefer 250 had a leaky seal. I ordered the seal kit and went to work fixing it.

I uncovered a way worse issue though. Once all water is removed from the overflow it still slowly fills. Is assume the silicone on the bottom of the overflow has failed. I even noticed a bit of silicone that looked loose down there.

This made my idea to actually remove and clean all parts completely impossible. I fixed the leaky seal but I had to do it quickly because I was dripping water pretty fast. My guess is it’s probably leaking about 1 gallon per 2 hours.

So, if I lose power for an extended amount of time I’m screwed! My guess is I have maybe 10-12 hours max before the sump overflows.

Since all the pipes are now sealed it will drain the main display all the way down the the main drains level. I estimate that to be about 30% of the water volume since it’s about 4.5 inches from the main displays normal operating level.

What do I do? This sucks!

 

[pecan2phat]

What type of drain is it? (durso, bean)
I know with one of my non Red Sea tanks that had a leaky overflow box seal, the water only slowly seeped in until the display was even with the drain pipe height and my sump was able to handle it.

 

[Rostato]

It’s a reefer 250...

The main drain is down like 4.5 inches...that’s 30% of the tank volume. There’s no way my puny Red Sea sump can handle that.

 

[Lowell Lemon]

I would recommend a tear down and re seal of the overflow. Better safe than sorry. You might get a large plastic tub to hold the rock and fish until the repair is done and tested. Let the silicone set for at least 24 hours before refilling. In many cases silicone should cure longer than 24 hours.

 

[ramabama]

Man that sucks. Let us know what you end up doing.

 

[Rostato]

Will do. I’m waiting for a reply from Red Sea. Maybe they know something I don’t.

 

[Westside Guy]

Will do. I’m waiting for a reply from Red Sea. Maybe they know something I don’t.

What action did Red Sea take on this issue?

 

[Rostato]

They said it wouldn’t be a problem and had me run a test to make sure.

Basically I turned off my return pump and put spare heaters in the display. I marked the em water level in my Sejm and let it sit for 3 hours. The water level never changed. So at some point there was an equilibrium